This receipe is wonderful. I cooked it tonight (again) and it was yum!

1 onion finely chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
1 stick of celery finely chopped
1 garlic clove crushed (or more if you want to)
1/2 lb of minced beef
1/2 lb of minced pork
150ml of red wine
250ml of milk
can of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp of tomatoe paste
shredded basil to garnish
grated Parmesan cheese

gently cook the celery, garlic, onion and carrot in about 2 tbsp of olive oil for about 10 minutes - try and avoid any colouring of the vegtables.

add the wine. Stir frequently until it has evaporated then add the milk and stir frequently until this has evaporated.

add the can of tomatoes and the tomatoe paste. Then simmer for at least 45 minutes at the lowest heat uncovered. If at any time the sauce appears to dry add a small amount of water.

Once cooked mix with cooked pasta of your choice and the basil and serve with the parmasan cheese sprinkled over.


And if you have managed not to drink the rest of the bottle of wine and can remember what you were doing .......enjoy!

i've seen several variations of the spag bol recipe but never one that uses MILK?????

A firm family favourite in this house is one that one of the girls brought home when she was at uni and exisitng on minimal money each week. We call it 'corned been throw in' but it can be made with cooked sausages and then it becomes 'sausage throw in' (you weren't expecting that were you?

Penne pasta
onion
garlic (if liked)
corned beef
mushrooms
tin tomatoes
basil
oregano
black pepper
parmesan or grated other cheese


Cook penne pasta adding a tablespoon of olive oil to the water, At the same time put the oven onto a moderate setting an empty casserole dish in to get hot.

While the pasta is cooking chop up a tin of corned beef into cubes, dice an onion, quater a batch of mushrooms and open a tine of chopped tomatoes. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the wok/pan cook the onions for a couple of mins, add all other ingredients and cook for a further 3-5 mins.

Drain and add the cooked pasta and toss for a minute or two.
tip all into casserole dish
grate cheese over the top
put into oven for about 10 mins

Although we are not great corned been eaters when it's cold, it is delicious in this dish.


I went to the new Garden Centre at the Garden park the other day and was browsing the cookery books. I saw one with all the recipies I thought I would really like. It was called '101 recipies For Kids' Says it all really!

The trick with my version of spag bol is to let it cook for as long as possible. If its looking dry add a little water and keep cooking on a low heat. 3 hours would not be unusual!

And as for milk..... yes it sounds strange but it really does work so long as you allow the milk to almost evaporate away before adding the chopped tomatoes and paste.

I also have a cracking receipe for chilli that has a bottle of larger in the ingredients instead of red wine.